"Global solar industry is on the rebound": IHS.

SolarIndustryMag.com: “After two years of a punishing downturn, the global solar industry is on the rebound,” says Ash Sharma, senior research director for solar at IHS.” “”Worldwide PV installations are set to rise by double digits in 2014, solar manufacturing capital spending is recovering, module prices are stabilizing and emerging markets are on the rise.”
Challenges remain, including changes in government incentives and policy, an ongoing backlash to the rapid rise of renewables and razor-thin margins throughout the solar value chain. The top predictions for 2014 from the IHS solar research team (include):….Double-digit growth as PV installations top 40 GW ….PV energy storage moves beyond hype ….PV module price declines to keep margins slim
….Capital spending and technology upgrades return ….Latin America to install more than 1 GW of PV …..China unlikely to reach ambitious distributed solar target
In November, China’s National Energy Administration announced huge plans for 12 GW of PV projects in 2014. These consist of 8 GW of distributed PV and 4 GW of ground-mount systems. While the announcement is encouraging for both the Chinese and global PV industry, IHS believes that such an ambitious target for distributed PV installations is not achievable, and the reality is that actual totals will fall far short of this goal. ….PV module prices will continue to decline over the long term ….IHS believes that cost and price will decline by more than 40% in 2020 compared to this year.
….Unsubsidized PV market to take off: High electricity prices and the falling cost of PV will allow 700 MW of unsubsidized PV to be developed worldwide in 2014, especially in regions with high irradiation and intense electricity demand.”